Then.......and Now
Page Eight

Peter Smith

In 1965, I left the small town pleasures of Tucson: cruising Speedway, boondock parties, all night poker games, drive-in movies and weekend trips to Nogales. First ensconced in the confines of a small college in LA, then the wild craziness of Berkeley in the late '60s. Graduating in physics, I got my first real job at the University of Hawaii working in a laboratory and living the sailor's life on a boat in the Ala Wai harbor. The Islands were wonderful, but a little too relaxing for someone with ambition. The call of the new field of optical sciences brought me back to Tucson in 1975 to lead the life of a graduate student with a wife and daughter, Sara.

Graduating in 1977, I spent 6 months in India before settling down to a career in at the Lunar and Planetary Lab at the UA. There I participated in missions to Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, and various moons. Starting at the bottom of the ladder, I worked my way up to becoming project manager of a $20M contract at Martin Marietta in 1990 building a camera system that would one day land on the surface of Titan, Saturn's largest moon. In the last 15 years I have accomplished many of the goals that I set out for myself early in my career; however, it was not to be an easy path.

First, leading the camera team for the wonderful Pathfinder mission to Mars in 1997, I experienced the heady accolades given to those who accomplish great things. Then, having my camera systems on Mars Polar Lander crash onto the Martian surface in 1999, I faced the end of my career with the loss of all my contracts. After several extremely difficult years of writing proposals, I have succeeded in bringing to the UA an entire mission to Mars ironically called "Phoenix." This mission will launch from Cape Canaveral in August 2007, then land on Mars in May 2008 where it will be operated robotically from our facility on 6th Avenue.

However, I could never have succeeded in this endeavor without the great home life that I enjoy with my wife, Dana. We now live across from the Arizona Inn in a modern home designed by William Bruder, an oasis in the middle of the city. My daughter recently married a Tibetan Buddhist from the Himalayas and they live nearby attending the UA in geography and anthropology. Despite the travel and adventures we have found that Tucson offers us the best of all worlds.

Peggy Spears Tate

After THS, I went to the U of A for a year, got married and had two children; a girl in 1968; Robin, and a boy; John, in 1971. I divorced in 1982 and became a Police Officer with Tucson Police Dept in 1984. I worked as an Investigator and then as a Crime Prevention Specialist, and was promoted to Detective in 1992. In 1998 I was medically retired due to injuries sustained while trying to rescue some people from a burning car. I stayed retired for 2 1/2 years, and then became the Investigator for the City Prosecutor's Office, where I have been for a little over 4 years.

My daughter and her husband Bill and I attend Pantano Christian Church, where we serve together in Childrens Ministries. We are also active in a Christian retreat called "The Walk to Emmaus." (If anyone ever offers to sponsor you on that weekend - GO! It is the best thing that you can imagine ~ A chance to come away from the world and walk with the Savior for 72 hrs, and it is fun and uplifting like you've never experienced!
I am looking forward to the reunion and seeing everyone!

Kathy Solar Tapelt

After high school I went to Flagstaff to Arizona State College, which by spring of the following year became Northern Arizona University. I was married (1967) and moved to Tempe working at ASU and attending night school at Mesa Community College where I received my AA Degree. We moved to Tucson where we later divorced (1970).

I returned to Flag (1971) to finish my bachelor’s degree and stayed for another 16 years. This is where I met my second and current husband, Robin. We will be married 28 years this month. Our 3 children were born in Flagstaff. Adam is 25, received his bachelor’s degree and is trained as a CAD Drafter but prefers to work in the construction field with his father. Nina is 23 and has been a Nail Technician for 6 years. She has one child, Isabella, who started kindergarten this year and is the apple of her Grannie and Papa’s eye. Casey is 21 and is in the Air Conditioning field, which in Arizona there will always be a need. Robin’s son, Rodd (from his previous marriage) is married to Liz and they just blessed us with a new baby, Logan Nathanial (in August). They live in Springfield, MO where Rodd is a Manager for Toyota Used Cars. He just received his Bachelors in Bus. Admin. May.

Robin retired in 2001 with 34 years of service from AT&T. We started a handyman business called Hubby For Hire. He then obtained a general contractor’s license and now on top of being a handyman is also a builder. I do the payroll and general bookkeeping (thank you Mr. Danny Romero).

We have lived mostly in AZ (currently in Mesa) but were fortunate to experience living in New Jersey for 4 years in the early ‘90’s. I have had various vocations since leaving THS. Being a stay-at-home mom was my greatest challenge. I’ve worked at all 3 AZ state universities. I enjoyed working for the U.S. Census Dept. for 1990 and 2000. We were very new to NJ in 1990 when I got a job as a Census Taker. Learned my way around the country back roads. I’ve dabbled in the antique and collectible business, maintaining a booth in a local store. Currently I am a Tupperware Manager (again) and Recruiter.

I’m active in my church; enjoy researching my family history, garage sale-ing on Sat. with friends and doting on my granddaughter.
We have a cabin in the White Mountains (Lakeside), where for the past two years have spent a lot of time, considering my husband and oldest son have been building and remodeling it. It is so nice to get out of the heat now that we have finally reached retirement age!